14-year-old sensation Wu Chia-Yen (吳佳晏) staged a late rise up the leaderboard to regain her lead in the second round of the Party Golfers Ladies Open.

The final round will kick off tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. in the morning as Wu attempts to become the youngest ever TLPGA Tour winner. At age 13 last summer, Wu made an unprecedented achievement by reaching the semifinals at the history-rich U.S. Amateur Championship.

Brief periods of squally afternoon showers at the National Garden Golf and Country Club on Thursday prevented players, in the late wave especially, from staying low. Despite turning in just a 1-under in the second round, Wu now expands her lead to five shots over a group of four who have a two-round total of 143, which includes Chen Szu-Han (陳思涵), who carded a low-round 69 to climbed up 23 spots, and her compatriot Yu Pei-Lin (余珮琳) with Thailand’s Wanchana Poruangrong, and Jackie Chulya.

Quickly spending away her one-shot lead at the start of the day, Wu’s front-nine started with a bogey and ended with another one to go 38, but she pounced her way back into the lead, making three birdies after the turn to finish under-par with a back-nine 33.

“It was really windy, worse than yesterday. I couldn’t get close enough to the flag, which made it very difficult on the greens,” said Wu. “I tried to stay positive, and be more aggressive with my putter, and it started to get better.”

When asked if she was nervous about the final round, “no, there is zero pressure,” said Wu. “It’s a wonderful learning opportunity. Win or lose, I will just try to show who I am and what I have in the bag. It’s been an awesome experience already!”

Taiwan’s Chen Szu-Han shot five birdies and two bogeys to wrapped up the day at the wind-and-rain-filled National Garden Golf and Country Club. “The wind made it tough to score, but at the same time, I was able to take more time between shots, which helped me to think more clearly,” said Chen. “The back-to-back bogeys, I think both from about four feet on the 5th and 6th were kind of a disappointment but that was pretty much it. My putting today in general was at a good level. I’m glad I held my nerves and played such a solid round considering all the factors.”

Yu Pei-Lin made four birdies, offset by five bogeys but still brought her standings up into a tie for second from the equal fifth place. “The wind was swirling. We had to play into the wind on this hole and suddenly the wind was behind our back on the other. It made it really hard to control the distance,” said Yu. “I was happy that I could take my chances on the par-5s to help me stay competitive.”

This week’s Party Golfers Ladies Open features a prize purse of $100,000, among which $18,000 goes to the eventual winner. The full entry list consists of 105 players from Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United States, and hosting nation Taiwan.

The top Taiwanese finisher on Friday will win herself a wildcard into the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship later this month.

The Party Golfers Ladies Open was first held in 2014 but had a one-year break in 2017 when members of the Party Golfers were occupied as a supporting role in the qualification event of the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship that year. However, with Party Golfers’ Chief Executive Ms. Lin L.C. endeavoring to extend their vision and continue to prosper the women’s golf community, the event is now brought back on the TLPGA Tour, in an even higher status than ever with the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT) joining forces to co-stage and bring in five of its best players from the Philippines.

Title sponsor, the 2002-incepted Party Golfers, is an amateur golf team comprised of local entrepreneurs, who share a strong passion for the golf sport as they lent their support and pushed the happening of the first Party Golfers Open in 2014. They are proud of their golf aesthetics with a unique team identity and catching team chants which help to boost their confidence on the course. The Party Golfers were not just active in local golfing events, but much engaging in charitable causes and pursuits.

Set at 6,281 yards long, the Party Golfers Ladies Open this year offers a hole-in-one prize on Hole No.14; the first player who holes out from the 14th tee will take away a Ulysse Nardin timepiece worth NT$347,900.